Opposition must win first before it can bring change

YOURSAY | ‘The Malays have for too long been in their handout entitlement stupor.’

Malay quotas an insult for the opposition

David Dass: We must stop thinking and feeling only through the lenses of race and religion. We must think of all Malaysians. We must adopt the creed of the three musketeers - All for one and one for all! Therein lies our future.

Look after the poor and the marginalised. And let the rich look after themselves. Whatever their race or religion. Let love, generosity and compassion rule and not greed, hate and animosity. After all, we are all - each of us - the children of the one true God.

The Chinese community are down to 26 percent from 36 percent in 1971 and the Indian community down to 7 percent from 10 percent in 1971. More than two million young Malaysian professionals work abroad.

Forty-five percent of serious crime are committed by Indians if police statistics are to be believed. How can this be constitutionally correct? This is not to question Malay rights?

The problem is not any of the provisions of the constitution. A nation must be built on a bedrock of values. These values are enshrined in the constitution. Equality of all Malaysians, the unlawfulness of discrimination, freedom of worship, of expression and movement.

Biro Tatanegara (BTN) has done its work. Non-Malays almost to a man feel dispossessed of their equal status as citizens. They watch purported leaders of their communities in the BN bleat plaintively from the sidelines.

Look at the result. Indians feature in every negative statistic possible - lifespan, infant mortality, drug and alcohol addiction, school dropout, share of wealth of the nation, etc. The indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak and the Orang Asli have become or remain poor communities.

The civil service and the armed forces have become 95 percent or more Malay. Government-linked companies (GLCs) are run as Malay establishments. We have rural schemes, investment funds, boarding schools and colleges and universities exclusively for Malays.

Indian schools are under-resourced. The Chinese community have to some extent been able to look after themselves through a system of privately-funded schools and private colleges and their entrepreneurial skills. But look at the statistics.

The problem is not Article 153. That article is innocuous in its terms. It prevents the Malays from being swamped by the then-dominant Chinese and Indians within the service and within the English-educated elite.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) itself is not the problem. It speaks of the eradication of poverty and the removal of the identification of race with location (Malay = rural dweller) and vocation (Malay = farmer). That is not the language of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ or ‘ketuanan Islam’.

Unfortunately, in the implementation of the constitution, the saving language to Article 153, which clearly said that nothing was to affect the rights of non-Malays, and the definition of “Malay” in Article 160, which was limited to a class of Malays who were citizens in 1957 and their descendants, were ignored.

The policies and programmes far, far exceeded anything contemplated by Article 153 and the NEP. Politicians constantly spoke of the expanding cake and not the deprivation of whatever anyone had earned through his own effort.

Prudent: Commander (Rtd) S Thayaparan, remember Sun Tzu - "The victorious party seeks victory first and fights later."

The manoeuvring for victory in GE14 is now in full force. The outcome of the actual battle - the official start of the campaign period to polling day - will by then be a virtually foregone conclusion.

The election will be won in the run-up to the actual polling. The election results only confirm the victory or defeat.

Therefore it is crucial, especially for the opposition, not to make any misstep. I can see the logic in the opposition's game. They are not playing a chess game which would imply a full-frontal assault.

At this stage, for the opposition to go for a full-frontal assault would be both defeatist (their strategy will be betrayed) and premature.

As to whether the opposition can rule Malaysia, well, we need only to remember what former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad said recently. He is very grudging in his praise, so what he said is significant. He said that the opposition has enough talents to manage Malaysia well.

I would add that the opposition will also have Mahathir's vast experience to help them. As for reforming and weaning Malaysia from ‘ketuanan Melayu’, the handout culture, etc, it should be first things first.

The first thing is to stabilise the economy by stopping corruption, increasing FDIs (foreign direct investments), etc.

Just remember Penang's spectacular growth during the first term of the DAP-led administration. If Malaysia's economy begins growing again above 7 percent per year, there should be enough social-political support for the reforms.

It will also be a step-by-step process. The Malays have for too long been in their handout entitlement stupor to be wrenched back to reality instantly.

I do not envisage that affirmative policies for Malays be weakened in the first term of a Harapan government. Corruption needs to be stopped and a CAT (Competency, Accountability and Transparency) administration ala Penang be successfully implemented.

Then the economy needs to be restored to grow at least 7 percent per year. The wealth of economic growth must be more efficiently distributed to the disadvantaged classes, especially the under-class. The disadvantaged, irrespective of ethnicity, should be able to find jobs and encouraged to work to contribute to the economy.

If they are working and their wealth are growing due to savings, they will not then be easily manipulated to direct their anger away from the kleptocrats as is being done now.

If this is achieved in Harapan's first term, we can then talk about rolling back the "handout" culture in the campaigning for Harapan's second term. The people must experience that they are better off with Harapan's clean government and work culture than with Umno's corrupt "handout culture"

Malaysia4All: I agree with the concept that ‘ketuanan’ is a divisive issue that is best addressed by the opposition after the elections, and not before.

Once (if?) the opposition gains federal power, it can begin the transitional process of making Malaysia fair to all races in a gradual manner that will put all races at ease, rather than a full-frontal assault before the elections.

If it does the latter, there is no chance the opposition will ever come to power after the 50 over years of brainwashing of the Malays by BN-Umno.

Hang Tuah PJ: If this was on Facebook, I would have given you a thousand likes, Commander.- Mkini